In 1955 Parks refused to give up her seat on a racially segregated bus in Alabama - a key moment in the US civil rights moment. She received death threats and moved north to Detroit, where she briefly lived in the white clapboard house with relatives. After a legal dispute in the US the house is now on display in Italy. The US Congress has referred to Parks as "the first lady of civil rights".

On 1 December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and was arrested for civil disobedience. The incident led to a year-long bus boycott in the city. In November 1956, a federal court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional, and Parks was immortalised as a key figure in the fight against institutionalised racism.